Many of you have your gripes about IU’s defense, and it’s justifiable. Many of you have gripes about IU’s offense. That, too, is justifiable. For the purposes of this post, I’m going to dig into some specifics on both sides of the ball (though, now that I look through this thing, it’s really just the offense), and seek to find a clearer understanding on why this team has lost eight straight Big Ten games.

Ready, set, go.

Start here.

Thanks to the Big Ten Geeks, here’s a scatter plot of offensive and defensive efficiency in the Big Ten as of yesterday:

Yes, not only is IU worst in the Big Ten offensively, as its only scoring about .93-.94 points per possession, but its second to last in defensive efficiency, allowing about 1.11 points per possession. If you want to know why IU has lost eight straight Big Ten games, you don’t have to look any further than these two numbers. When you aren’t scoring as much as your opponents, and you aren’t defending them well either, it’s sort of hard to get over the hump, ya dig?

When will they crack 60?

Let’s get visual, visual again. Via Statsheet, here’s IU scoring numbers:

IU has failed to eclipse the 60-point mark in its last four games, and barely did it in its fifth to last game — hitting 61 — in a loss to Northwestern. And pace really has nothing to do with the low amount of points IU is scoring: according to Ken Pomeroy, the Hoosiers’ adjusted pace of 68.6 possessions per game is a touch higher than the national average. They aren’t playing a slow game.

(more…)

Bobby Capobianco:

(more…)

THE GOOD: CONSISTENCY, EXECUTION, AGGRESSION.

The Good Hoosiers showed up tonight in Bloomington. After the Bad Hoosiers lacked any sense of urgency in Columbus earlier this week, IU was a completely different squad this evening. They played like they wanted to win, like they deserved to win.

Perhaps this is just what we’re in for this season: a bit of deer-in-the-headlights-what-are-we-doing play on the road, while on its home court, Indiana plays with the utmost confidence. If the Hoosiers can give this kind of effort inside Assembly Hall every time out, they’ll be in most, if not all, of their home contests.

IU rattled off 41 points in the first half, and looked like a team on a mission. They were executing at both ends of the floor. One thing I want to point out during that impressive first 20 minutes: there’s a reason Jordan Hulls is starting alongside Jeremiah Rivers in the backcourt: his spot-up shooting ability. When Rivers is at his best on the dribble-drive and can draw help defense, Hulls stays at home on the wing or corner and has enough spacing to elevate and hit the three. And Rivers is athletic enough to take it all the way to the hole as well.

(more…)

THE GOOD: THE COMEBACK, TOM PRITCHARD.

I started this game a bit late, so I had to play catchup on DVR. Because I always need to have my laptop open — always, always — I caught one of Alex’s Twitter updates that said IU had cut the lead to 11 with just under 12 minutes to go. At the time, I had just started the second half, and as the half wore on I became increasingly shocked by this fact: after all, IU showed no signs of really putting a dent into Loyola’s lead. They still trailed by 20 with 14:10 to go, and though they were taking care of the ball better — there was only one turnover in the first seven minutes of the second half — Loyola was hitting their shots, and IU wasn’t able to inch any closer.

But then the barrage hit. Maurice Creek knocked down two threes, Verdell Jones hit another, Creek hit a layup, got fouled and hit the free throw, Jones hit two free throws off a Creek steal, and suddenly the Hoosiers were only down six with 10:18 to go.

Another big part of IU’s comeback? Tom Pritchard. In the second half, he really reminded me of the Pritch of old: he was gobbling up rebounds, had a real knack for the ball and was a productive scorer. He had six offensive boards and eight total, and chipped in seven points. It wasn’t an amazing effort by any stretch, but he kept a lot of plays alive during the Hoosiers’ comeback run, and it was an integral part of why they were able to make this a game.  IU, with their thin frontline, could use this kind of effort out of Pritch every night.

Yes, of course, there was plenty to gripe about in this game. (Just what until you get to The Bad.) But IU could have laid down and died in this one. Instead, they turned up the defensive pressure in both the full and half court, were aggressive and got to the line, and hit some big shots to bring them right back into this game.

This is what good teams do when they find themselves at a crossroads: They will themselves back into the game with good play on both sides of the ball. But good teams also find a way to win these games against an inferior opponent at home. And well, we all know that didn’t happen tonight.

(more…)

Courtesy of the IU Athletics channel on YouTube:

THE GOOD: KEEPING IT CLOSE, RESERVE PLAY.

Hmmm, where to begin. Let’s take some baby steps here. Save for the last few minutes where it all unraveled, Indiana hung right with Maryland, and during several stretches, outplayed and outworked the Terrapins –  a tournament team last season. A team that was ranked earlier this year. IU had a lead with 9:44 to go. It led for a good stretch in the first half. As much as we want expectations to be higher and wins to be a result, at this juncture in the season it’s progress.

The Puerto Rico incarnation of these Hoosiers likely doesn’t keep it this close for this long, or look as poised and as polished as IU did for stretches tonight.

About the only other thing I want to point out here is one key difference this year as opposed to last, and that’s IU actually having viable options off the bench. When Jeremiah Rivers went down with his injury early in the first half after that nifty layup– I worry his trashing style of play might lead to more scary moments like that later in the season — Jordan Hulls filled in without skipping a beat. He hit a three, and had a dazzling no-look pass to Christian Watford under the bucket. Watford scored, was fouled and hit the free throw. Having two capable point guards will be huge as the season progresses. Derek Elston also showed some spark off the bench, too. He didn’t have a good shooting night, but he had nine boards in 20 minutes. He continues to make the most out of his time on the court.

THE BAD: LOOOOONG SCORING DROUGHTS.

IU still seems to be figuring things out in the half court. When they got out in transition in the first half, they made some heady decisions. But when they were forced into half-court sets, there still seems to be a lot of indecision, and it’s clear this is still a facet of the their game that’s a work in progress. However, there was good ball movement in stretches.

(more…)

Cam Long’s three-pointer with 5.4 seconds remaining, a bank shot as the shot clock expired, lifted George Mason past Indiana 69-66 in the seventh place game of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Tip-Off Classic.

Long hit the game-winner with the teams tied at 65 and the hand of Jordan Hulls in his face.

“That’s a tough shot,” Indiana coach Tom Crean said. “It’s the one when Jones gave up the three because he didn’t rotate out fast enough that killed us. It’s never the last play. It never is.”

After Long’s shot, George Mason (3-2) fouled the Hoosiers before they could get a shot off and Jeremiah Rivers made the first free throw and intentionally missed the second.

Rashad Whack secured the rebound for George Mason, was fouled, and hit the second of two free throws. A desperation half court heave by Maurice Creek didn’t draw iron as time expired.

The loss was the third in four days for Indiana (2-3), which was led by 15 points from Maurice Creek and 13 from Verdell Jones. Bobby Capobianco came off the bench, scored his first points in an IU uniform and finished with seven points and 10 rebounds, five offensive, in 17 minutes.

Despite the tough trip, Crean was pleased with his team’s effort.

“The second half we played much better and finally started to look like a team,” Crean said. “We played our best half of basketball and grew up. That doesn’t mean we didn’t make mistakes and we didn’t miss shots and didn’t have turnovers, but we started to grow up. And that’s exactly what has to happen as we move forward with this team and we are going to continue to build on that.”

Long scored 18 to lead George Mason and Mike Morrison added career highs of 17 points, 13 rebounds and seven blocked shots, a tournament record. Luke Hancock, Creek’s teammate at Hargrave Military Academy chipped in nine points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

(The four factors are explained, here.)

Pick to Click: Creek

Crean on his rotation: “We’ve got a lot of determinations to make. How do we really want to play? I’m trying to play to many guys right now. But we want to run. Are we going to all out after it and press more? Are we going to shrink the bench? I don’t have a rotation.”

Crean pleased with Capobianco’s play: “We had a real heart-to-heart the other night about him taking the steps. And it was really at a crossroads. He’s got it in him. He’s been very, very serious since our first night. And he always practices hard, but he always doesn’t play with confidence. This is on the plus side, going home to have him step in and play like that. But at the same time, he’s gotta learn to play through the contact. He can’t throw the ball up.”

George Mason is young, but it’s different at Indiana: Crean: “Those guys, when they’re in there young, they’ve got people handing it down. They didn’t have to send off everybody because of drugs and because of academics. All of these programs have had people hand it down. It may not have been great players handing it down, but we don’t have that.”

Improved free throw shooting: Indiana hit 21 of 28 free throws, including 10 of 10 in the first half.

No production from Pritchard or Dumes: Pritchard went scoreless and grabbed just one rebound in 14 minutes and Dumes, Indiana’s leading scorer last season, also went scoreless and committed two turnovers in seven minutes.

Hoosiers win rebounding battle: Indiana out-rebounded George Mason 43-38, but were outscored 42-20 in the paint.

Watford struggles from the field: Christian Watford finished with 10 points, but shot just 3 of 13.

Up next: Northwestern State at 3:30 ET on Saturday at Assembly Hall. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.

• Box score

THE GOOD: FIRST FIVE MINUTES.

This is what this Hoosiers team can be. Running the break efficiently, not letting teams get set up on D, pushing the pace, getting controlled buckets in transition with Jeremiah Rivers and Verdell Jones leading the charge. It actually looked slow to me at points, because IU wasn’t trying to do too much — just simply taking what they were offered.

Rivers had a nice play during this stretch, as he grabbed an air ball and went coast to coast. But then Ole Miss turned up the pressure, started dominating inside, starting hitting shots, blocking IU’s shots, and IU began turning the ball over at an alarming rate. What was once a 20-11 lead quickly became a double-digit deficit.

Ole Miss just had too much to throw at the Hoosiers. They blocked a ridiculous 12 shots on both lines (starters DeAundre Cranston and Eniel Polynice had two each; Terrico White had one, while the bench picked up the remaining seven), and scored at will in stretches. They overpowered IU. The Hoosiers were able to make mini-runs here and there — something last year’s team would not have done — and had it to 69-61 with a bit over 5:00 to go. But after yet another turnover on a fast break (an errant Devan Dumes pass), that was basically it for their chances at a comeback.

(more…)